Good News Translation GNT
World English Bible WEB
1 The Lord says, "I am bringing a destructive wind against Babylonia and its people.
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Thus says Yahweh: Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against those who dwell in Leb-kamai, a destroying wind.
2 I will send foreigners to destroy Babylonia like a wind that blows straw away. When that day of destruction comes, they will attack from every side and leave the land bare.
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I will send to Babylon strangers, who shall winnow her; and they shall empty her land: for in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about.
3 Don't give its soldiers time to shoot their arrows or to put on their armor. Do not spare the young men! Destroy the whole army!
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Against [him who] bends let the archer bend his bow, and against [him who] lifts himself up in his coat of mail: and don't you spare her young men; destroy you utterly all her host.
4 They will be wounded and die in the streets of their cities.
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They shall fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans, and thrust through in her streets.
5 I, the Lord God Almighty, have not abandoned Israel and Judah, even though they have sinned against me, the Holy One of Israel.
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For Israel is not forsaken, nor Judah, of his God, of Yahweh of Hosts; though their land is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel.
6 Run away from Babylonia! Run for your lives! Do not be killed because of Babylonia's sin. I am now taking my revenge and punishing it as it deserves.
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Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and save every man his life; don't be cut off in her iniquity: for it is the time of Yahweh's vengeance; he will render to her a recompense.
7 Babylonia was like a gold cup in my hand, making the whole world drunk. The nations drank its wine and went out of their minds.
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Babylon has been a golden cup in Yahweh's hand, who made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunk of her wine; therefore the nations are mad.
8 Babylonia has suddenly fallen and is destroyed! Mourn over it! Get medicine for its wounds, and maybe it can be healed.
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Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: wail for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed.
9 Foreigners living there said, "We tried to help Babylonia, but it was too late. Let's leave now and go back home. God has punished Babylonia with all his might and has destroyed it completely.' "
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We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go everyone into his own country; for her judgment reaches to heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies.
10 The Lord says, "My people shout, "The Lord has shown that we are in the right. Let's go and tell the people in Jerusalem what the Lord our God has done.' "
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Yahweh has brought forth our righteousness: come, and let us declare in Zion the work of Yahweh our God.
11 The Lord has stirred up the kings of Media, because he intends to destroy Babylonia. That is how he will take revenge for the destruction of his Temple. The attacking officers command, "Sharpen your arrows! Get your shields ready!
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Make sharp the arrows; hold firm the shields: Yahweh has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes; because his purpose is against Babylon, to destroy it: for it is the vengeance of Yahweh, the vengeance of his temple.
12 Give the signal to attack Babylon's walls. Strengthen the guard! Post the sentries! Place troops in ambush!" The Lord has done what he said he would do to the people of Babylonia.
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Set up a standard against the walls of Babylon, make the watch strong, set the watchmen, prepare the ambushes; for Yahweh has both purposed and done that which he spoke concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.
13 That country has many rivers and rich treasures, but its time is up, and its thread of life is cut.
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You who dwell on many waters, abundant in treasures, your end is come, the measure of your covetousness.
14 The Lord Almighty has sworn by his own life that he will bring many men to attack Babylonia like a swarm of locusts, and they will shout with victory.
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Yahweh of Hosts has sworn by himself, [saying], Surely I will fill you with men, as with the canker-worm; and they shall lift up a shout against you.
15 The Lord made the earth by his power; by his wisdom he created the world and stretched out the heavens.
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He has made the earth by his power, he has established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding has he stretched out the heavens:
16 At his command the waters above the sky roar; he brings clouds from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning flash in the rain and sends the wind from his storeroom.
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when he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; he makes lightnings for the rain, and brings forth the wind out of his treasuries.
17 At the sight of this, people feel stupid and senseless; those who make idols are disillusioned because the gods they make are false and lifeless.
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Every man is become brutish [and is] without knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his image; for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.
18 They are worthless and should be despised; they will be destroyed when the Lord comes to deal with them.
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They are vanity, a work of delusion: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.
19 The God of Jacob is not like them; he is the one who made everything, and he has chosen Israel to be his very own people. The Lord Almighty is his name.
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The portion of Jacob is not like these; for he is the former of all things; and [Israel] is the tribe of his inheritance: Yahweh of Hosts is his name.
20 The Lord says, "Babylonia, you are my hammer, my weapon of war. I used you to crush nations and kingdoms,
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You are my battle-ax and weapons of war: and with you will I break in pieces the nations; and with you will I destroy kingdoms;
21 to shatter horses and riders, to shatter chariots and their drivers,
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and with you will I break in pieces the horse and his rider;
22 to kill men and women, to slay old and young, to kill boys and girls,
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and with you will I break in pieces the chariot and him who rides therein; and with you will I break in pieces man and woman; and with you will I break in pieces the old man and the youth; and with you will I break in pieces the young man and the virgin;
23 to slaughter shepherds and their flocks, to slaughter farmers and their plow horses, to crush rulers and high officials."
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and with you will I break in pieces the shepherd and his flock; and with you will I break in pieces the farmer and his yoke [of oxen]; and with you will I break in pieces governors and deputies.
24 The Lord says, "You will see me repay Babylonia and its people for all the evil they did to Jerusalem.
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I will render to Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight, says Yahweh.
25 Babylonia, you are like a mountain that destroys the whole world, but I, the Lord, am your enemy. I will take hold of you, level you to the ground, and leave you in ashes.
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Behold, I am against you, destroying mountain, says Yahweh, which destroy all the earth; and I will stretch out my hand on you, and roll you down from the rocks, and will make you a burnt mountain.
26 None of the stones from your ruins will ever be used again for building. You will be like a desert forever. I, the Lord, have spoken.
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They shall not take of you a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but you shall be desolate for ever, says Yahweh.
27 "Give the signal to attack! Blow the trumpet so that the nations can hear! Prepare the nations for war against Babylonia! Tell the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz to attack. Appoint an officer to lead the attack. Bring up the horses like a swarm of locusts.
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Set you up a standard in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations, prepare the nations against her, call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz: appoint a marshal against her; cause the horses to come up as the rough canker-worm.
28 Prepare the nations for war against Babylonia. Send for the kings of Media, their leaders and officials, and the armies of all the countries they control.
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Prepare against her the nations, the kings of the Medes, the governors of it, and all the deputies of it, and all the land of their dominion.
29 The earth trembles and shakes because the Lord is carrying out his plan to make Babylonia a desert, where no one lives.
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The land trembles and is in pain; for the purposes of Yahweh against Babylon do stand, to make the land of Babylon a desolation, without inhabitant.
30 The Babylonian soldiers have stopped fighting and remain in their forts. They have lost their courage and have become helpless. The city gates are broken down, and the houses are on fire.
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The mighty men of Babylon have forborne to fight, they remain in their strongholds; their might has failed; they are become as women: her dwelling-places are set on fire; her bars are broken.
31 Messenger after messenger runs to tell the king of Babylonia that his city has been broken into from every side.
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One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to met another, to show the king of Babylon that his city is taken on every quarter:
32 The enemy have captured the river crossing and have set the fortresses on fire. The Babylonian soldiers have panicked.
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and the passages are seized, and the reeds they have burned with fire, and the men of war are frightened.
33 Soon the enemy will cut them down and trample them like grain on a threshing place. I, the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, have spoken."
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For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time when it is trodden; yet a little while, and the time of harvest shall come for her.
34 The king of Babylonia cut Jerusalem up and ate it. He emptied the city like a jar; like a monster he swallowed it. He took what he wanted and threw the rest away.
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Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me, he has crushed me, he has made me an empty vessel, he has, like a monster, swallowed me up, he has filled his maw with my delicacies; he has cast me out.
35 Let the people of Zion say, "May Babylonia be held responsible for the violence done to us!" Let the people of Jerusalem say, "May Babylonia be held responsible for what we have suffered!"
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The violence done to me and to my flesh be on Babylon, shall the inhabitant of Zion say; and, My blood be on the inhabitants of Chaldea, shall Jerusalem say.
36 And so the Lord said to the people of Jerusalem, "I will take up your cause and will make your enemies pay for what they did to you. I will dry up the source of Babylonia's water and make its rivers go dry.
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Therefore thus says Yahweh: Behold, I will plead your cause, and take vengeance for you; and I will dry up her sea, and make her fountain dry.
37 That country will become a pile of ruins where wild animals live. It will be a horrible sight; no one will live there, and all who see it will be terrified.
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Babylon shall become heaps, a dwelling-place for jackals, an astonishment, and a hissing, without inhabitant.
38 The Babylonians all roar like lions and growl like lion cubs.
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They shall roar together like young lions; they shall growl as lions' whelps.
39 Are they greedy? I will prepare them a feast and make them drunk and happy. They will go to sleep and never wake up.
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When they are heated, I will make their feast, and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, says Yahweh.
40 I will take them to be slaughtered, like lambs, goats, and rams. I, the Lord, have spoken."
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I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with male goats.
41 The Lord says about Babylon: "The city that the whole world praised has been captured! What a horrifying sight Babylon has become to the nations!
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How is Sheshach taken! and the praise of the whole earth seized! how is Babylon become a desolation among the nations!
42 The sea has rolled over Babylon and covered it with roaring waves.
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The sea is come up on Babylon; she is covered with the multitude of the waves of it.
43 The towns have become a horrifying sight and are like a waterless desert, where no one lives or even travels.
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Her cities are become a desolation, a dry land, and a desert, a land in which no man dwells, neither does any son of man pass thereby.
44 I will punish Bel, the god of Babylonia, and make him give up his stolen goods; the nations will not worship him any more. "Babylon's walls have fallen.
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I will execute judgment on Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he has swallowed up; and the nations shall not flow any more to him: yes, the wall of Babylon shall fall.
45 People of Israel, run away from there! Run for your life from my fierce anger.
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My people, go you out of the midst of her, and save yourselves every man from the fierce anger of Yahweh.
46 Do not lose courage or be afraid because of the rumors you hear. Every year a different rumor spreads - rumors of violence in the land and of one king fighting another.
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Don't let your heart faint, neither fear for the news that shall be heard in the land; for news shall come one year, and after that in another year [shall come] news, and violence in the land, ruler against ruler.
47 And so the time is coming when I will deal with Babylonia's idols. The whole country will be put to shame, and all its people will be killed.
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Therefore, behold, the days come, that I will execute judgment on the engraved images of Babylon; and her whole land shall be confounded; and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her.
48 Everything on earth and in the sky will shout for joy when Babylonia falls to the people who come from the north to destroy it.
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Then the heavens and the earth, and all that is therein, shall sing for joy over Babylon; for the destroyers shall come to her from the north, says Yahweh.
49 Babylonia caused the death of people all over the world, and now Babylonia will fall because it caused the death of so many Israelites. I, the Lord, have spoken."
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As Babylon has caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon shall fall the slain of all the land.
50 The Lord says to his people in Babylonia: "You have escaped death! Now go! Don't wait! Though you are far from home, think about me, your Lord, and remember Jerusalem.
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You who have escaped the sword, go you, don't stand still; remember Yahweh from afar, and let Jerusalem come into your mind.
51 You say, "We've been disgraced and made ashamed; we feel completely helpless because foreigners have taken over the holy places in the Temple.'
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We are confounded, because we have heard reproach; confusion has covered our faces: for strangers are come into the sanctuaries of Yahweh's house.
52 So then, I say that the time is coming when I will deal with Babylon's idols, and the wounded will groan throughout the country.
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Therefore, behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will execute judgment on her engraved images; and through all her land the wounded shall groan.
53 Even if Babylon could climb to the sky and build a strong fortress there, I would still send people to destroy it. I, the Lord, have spoken."
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Though Babylon should mount up to the sky, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet from me shall destroyers come to her, says Yahweh.
54 The Lord says, "Listen to the sound of crying in Babylon, of mourning for the destruction in the land.
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The sound of a cry from Babylon, and of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans!
55 I am destroying Babylon and putting it to silence. The armies rush in like roaring waves and attack with noisy shouts.
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For Yahweh lays Babylon waste, and destroys out of her the great voice; and their waves roar like many waters; the noise of their voice is uttered:
56 They have come to destroy Babylon; its soldiers are captured, and their bows are broken. I am a God who punishes evil, and I will treat Babylon as it deserves.
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for the destroyer is come on her, even on Babylon, and her mighty men are taken, their bows are broken in pieces; for Yahweh is a God of recompenses, he will surely requite.
57 I will make its rulers drunk - men of wisdom, leaders, and soldiers. They will go to sleep and never wake up. I, the king, have spoken; I am the Lord Almighty.
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I will make drunk her princes and her wise men, her governors and her deputies, and her mighty men; and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake up, says the King, whose name is Yahweh of Hosts.
58 The walls of mighty Babylon will be thrown to the ground, and its towering gates burned down. The work of the nations is all for nothing; their efforts go up in flames. I, the Lord Almighty, have spoken."
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Thus says Yahweh of hosts: The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly overthrown, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; and the peoples shall labor for vanity, and the nations for the fire; and they shall be weary.
59 King Zedekiah's personal attendant was Seraiah, the son of Neriah and grandson of Mahseiah. In the fourth year that Zedekiah was king of Judah, Seraiah was going to Babylonia with him, and I gave him some instructions.
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The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. Now Seraiah was chief chamberlain.
60 I wrote in a book an account of all the destruction that would come on Babylonia, as well as all these other things about Babylonia.
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Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come on Babylon, even all these words that are written concerning Babylon.
61 I told Seraiah, "When you get to Babylon, be sure to read aloud to the people everything that is written here.
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Jeremiah said to Seraiah, When you come to Babylon, then see that you read all these words,
62 Then pray, "Lord, you have said that you would destroy this place, so that there would be no living creatures in it, neither people nor animals, and it would be like a desert forever.'
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and say, Yahweh, you have spoken concerning this place, to cut it off, that none shall dwell therein, neither man nor animal, but that it shall be desolate forever.
63 Seraiah, when you finish reading this book to the people, then tie it to a rock and throw it into the Euphrates River
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It shall be, when you have made an end of reading this book, that you shall bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates:
64 and say, "This is what will happen to Babylonia - it will sink and never rise again because of the destruction that the Lord is going to bring on it.' " The words of Jeremiah end here.
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and you shall say, Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise again because of the evil that I will bring on her; and they shall be weary. Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.
The World English Bible is in the public domain.